Triggerfinger ➳ Daryl Dixon

f o u r

Presley stood in front of the small building. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her eyes were darkened as she studied it. The groans and roar of the roamers on the inside was the only thing keeping her from bursting through the doors of this place.

It was a nursery. She'd disappeared while the group had been setting up camp in search of food when she'd stumbled upon this place. While Maggie wasn't too far along yet, she was far along enough that they would have to start considering formula and other things. Presley closed her eyes and pushed a strand of hair back from her face. I wish you were here to help, Stef. Stefan would be great help right about now. While his tactics weren't always the most intelligent and well thought out, he always got done what he had to.

Presley looked down at Zeva. "Speak." She commanded. The dog barely blinked before she sprang to her feet and barked three times, loudly. Presley repeated the command a few times before she patted the dog's head. "Good girl."

Presley went to the side of the building. The roamers would be at the front of the building, trying to get to the place where they had heard the barking. Presley grabbed a rock and tossed it up and then caught it in her hand. She stood a distance from the window and tossed the rock, flinching when the glass shattered. She knocked out a few pieces that had remained before she climbed through, waiting patiently for Zeva to follow after. Immediately, Presley closed the door in the room and placed a chair in front of it to keep the roamers from returning.

This was the only room that she really needed, after all. She sifted through the cupboards until she found cans of formula and dropped them into her bag. She grabbed all that was left. She turned back to the window, but paused when a small toy caught her eye. A brown teddy bear with nothing wrong with it- other than the stiff fur. She scooped it up and stuffed it into her bag along with the formula.

She was climbing through the window when she heard a familiar voice. "You're guilty." She whipped around and froze. Stefan stood in front of the door, his calm smile looking brilliant on his face.

"Stefan." She whispered. When she blinked, he was gone. Her heart dropped and she couldn't hide the instant dismay on her face. She turned back to the window and crawled out, shaking her head. She was loosing her mind.

- - - -

"You left without me." Daryl said accusingly once he saw Presley return to camp. "I told you I would go with you." He spat angrily. The words seemed to just roll off of her, though. She glanced up at him and shrugged.

"You've been actin' funny lately." Daryl frowned. "What's your problem."

"I don't have a problem." She said defiantly. "I'm just stressed with all this traveling, and Maggie being pregnant..."

"Why are ye lying to me?" Daryl grabbed her arm to stop her. She paused and turned to him, staring at him for a long moment.

"My best friend just died, Daryl." She said, dropping her eyes from his. "I would never blame you and I don't regret my decision of killing him, but..." She shook her head. "I miss him, okay? You can't just expect me to get over that."

"But ye act okay when other people are around." Daryl argued.

"Because every damn time I look at you, I think of him. I think of how I killed him right after he confessed his love for me." Her eyes glistened with tears. She hated this. She hated caring. Daryl had saved her from Stefan's mad rage. She ran her hands angrily through her hair. In spite of her attempts, a few stray tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

"Did you love 'im?" Daryl said. His voice was quiet, almost pleading.

"Not in the way that you're suggesting." She stared into the trees, balling her small hands into fists. "This is why I don't like caring about people, Daryl. When I care, it consumes me. I care too much when I let myself give a damn."

He understood what she meant. He wished that she didn't care about Stefan, but she did. He was relieved that she wasn't in love with him, but there were so many more questions consuming his mind.

"I killed my best friend." She laughed and shook her head. "What a good friend I am."

"You had to-."

"What if there was another way? What if-."

"Presley." Daryl grasped her by the shoulders as her body was being racked with sobs. Her cheeks were coated with tears. This boy, Stefan, had destroyed her, but not by meaning to. Her knees buckled. He drew her close, lowering the both of them to the ground as she cried. "It was either 'im or me." He tried desperately to comfort her.

"I killed him." She cried into his shirt. She fisted the shirt and buried her face into his neck. "I couldn't save him." Daryl hated this. He pressed his hand to the back of her neck and allowed her to cry until her eyes were dry. His heart hurt, but this wasn't about him right now.

- - - -

Kind of ended up being a shorter chapter, but this is the only time that I could find to actually write and get something up for you guys.

Triggerfinger is already doing amazing. I already almost have 1000 reads, which is absolutely amazing. I remember it took forever for people to actually start discovering Arrowhead haha.

Speaking of Arrowhead... You guys are so amazing. That story is doing absolutely phenomenal. 132k reads? Guys, that is just... Absolutely mind blowing. Writing is one of my passions, so it's just so thrilling that you guys love reading what I love to write. It pushes me to actually want to try and write an original story. Thank you so much. I love you all to pieces.

School is out, so therefore my school computer is turned in. That means that updates might be a bit... iffy. However, I will write whenever I have time. I have to divide my time between three different places this summer, and I can really only write at one of them. I will do my best to give weekly updates or so.

Please please leave a comment and tell me what you thought of this chapter <3 Do you think Presley is going crazy like Stefan?